Scholar tells NU students to 'go for it'

Nicholas P. Negroponte, the Internet guru who wants to send millions of laptop to children in poor countries, told 2,200 Northeastern University students yesterday to pursue their dreams and ignore the naysayers.

Negroponte, commencement speaker for the university's 105th graduation ceremony, told the crowd at TD Banknorth Garden of his dream that someday all 1.2 billion school-aged children in the world will receive an education. Half of them live in rural villages without electricity in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said.

The professor and entrepreneur, who co founded MIT's renowned Media Lab, is trying to help through his One Laptop Per Child initiative. Some people initially thought his idea was crazy, he said.

Negroponte hopes to one day deliver low-cost, self-charging computers to 1 billion children, who could use them to access educational materials and communicate with one another over long distances via a wireless network.

"When somebody tells you to get real," Negroponte told students, "that is, for me at least, a code word for 'Go for it.' Try it. You're at a stage in your life where 'being real' is not necessary."

In his multimedia presentation, Negroponte stressed to students that "this is one world," and that education is critical if the world hopes to eradicate poverty, save the environment, and foster peace. Negroponte's nonprofit plans to start off by producing millions of $100 bright green laptops for children in Argentina, Thailand, Nigeria, and other developing nations. About 4,000 of the computers have already been assembled in a Shanghai factory and are being tested by children in various countries.

The laptops often perform double duty, because their monitors serve as the brightest light source in the children's one-room homes, Negroponte said. The first English word many of the children learned was "Google," he said.

Negroponte also imparted other lessons in his address in Boston's first major college graduation ceremony this season: "The biggest disease on this planet is nationalism," he said. "If we can eliminate nationalism, we can eliminate a lot of the world's problems."

He also warned students that "incrementalism is the enemy of creativity," urging them to think big.

Northeastern awarded Negroponte, who has bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology , an honorary doctorate in public service. When Negroponte's degree was announced, students cheered and sent beach balls sailing over a sea of black graduation caps. Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun , presiding over his first commencement, played off Negroponte's speech as he tried to calm them, joking, "Get real! Get real!"

Sergio Marrero, 23, who was selected by the university to speak to students, urged classmates to continue having an impact. "This is the commencement, the beginning of a new journey," he said. "Your time is now. Dare to change the world."

As Aoun conferred the graduates' degrees, parents waved frantically from faraway bleachers and tried to capture the moment on their cameras. Students shot silly string and tossed balloons and confetti into the air.

Marrero, a New Jersey native who is the first person in his family to graduate from a four-year college, plans to backpack through Europe with friends this summer before moving to Phoenix to work for Pepsi Co. Marrero, who graduated magna cum laude with a degree in industrial engineering, said he appreciated Negroponte's advice to graduates.

"Forget thinking outside the box," he said, giving his interpretation of Negroponte's message after the ceremony. "There is no box."

Marissa Fantasia, 23, said the ceremony felt surreal as her uncle tossed her a bouquet of roses from the bleachers and other relatives took photos of her cap, which she decorated with palm trees and surfboard stickers and pink lettering that said, "Nurses call the shots."

But Negroponte's message of coming together as one united world resonated with her, said the nursing student from Revere, who plans to move to Oahu this summer to start her medical career.

"Third World countries deserve the same equities and education standards that we have," she said.